100 Transformations: #1

Here it is, gentle reader.  A new post!

I've written before about a concept that I call "the tyranny of self improvement."  It has occurred to me that I have never really hashed out the meaning of this phrase.

"Self improvement," should its meaning not be already obvious, is the desire to achieve the fullness of life as Christ has ordained for me.  This means submitting myself to his perfect will for me, being transformed by the renewal of my mind.

I consider my conversion to Catholicism as my chief conversion.  From an absolute point of view, of course, my initial salvation was my main conversion.  But seeing as my old Protestant perspective of the timing of that event is challenged by my Catholic perspective (the Protestant marking it with the sinner's prayer I prayed with my cousin Mary-Ruth when I was about five years old, and the Catholic perspective marking it with my baptism as an infant), it makes sense that my Catholicism would be a pivotal event with a magnitude of its own.

But change in my life cannot end with an event which happened twelve years ago.  I feel called by the Lord in recent days to set my eyes forward and to embrace the new things he has planned for me for the balance of my days on this earth.

The "tyranny" part refers to that part of my nature that is prone to "undue severity or harshness," especially when it comes to self-analysis.  Too often I halt progress down the road to improvement when I see how very long the road can be.

Therefore the point of this post: I am embarking on a new exercise in discipline, similar to my expired World On The Bus blog, where I will commit to posting here 100 entries, three per week, on some activity of micro-transformation I have done that day to further my goals of improvement in faith, family, fitness, finances, and fun.  I project this will take me into mid-December 2010. 

This post marks transformation number 1.  Join me for the journey!
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